Restaurants are generally welcoming to younger children and will be able to provide you with half portions for older toddlers and some will have children’s menus.

Many restaurants will also offer high chairs. Many of the restaurant in the older towns are small and you may be required to fold up your stroller inside. Eating outside is popular during the spring and summer months which is great if you have a stroller and babies and toddlers will love to watch all the people going by.

If you are staying by the sea you will be able to enjoy fantastic sea food and local produce. For the rich food of the Dordogne, famous for its duck and goose. As always, those self-catering in France can stock up on incredible fresh produce in the country’s countless local markets. To the south of the region, Basque specialities come to the fore, many of them featuring seafood, including chipirons (baby squid) and fish cooked à la plancha (on an open hotplate in its own fat). Pipérade is a mix of green pepper, tomato and onion sautéed in olive oil, sometimes with ham and/or egg – but beware, it’s spiked with the notorious red chili from nearby Espelette in the foothills of the Pyrénées (it’s worth a day-trip to the town to see the garlands of chilis strung to dry from its Basque buildings).